Gage, Ronna - Send Her To Me (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

“What is it?” he asked of her new bashful coloring.

“I’ve never done that before,” she said shyly. She grabbed a pillow from the bed.

Carter took it away from her. “No, don’t hide from me.” He liked to see her blush and her eyes after she came. “What have you never done?” He placed the pillow under her head.

“Come like an erupting volcano that had laid dormant for most of its life. Was that too much?”

He lay above her. “I can’t get enough of you, baby. No matter how much I get, it is never enough.” He eased the head of his cock into her.

“Hello, Cocky.” She breathed a sigh of complete satisfaction and surrender to Carter.

* * * *

Carter made love to her two more times before he finally let them get some sleep. “I think I could fall for you.”

At his admission, a thrill of her emotions ran through her. She didn’t have any doubt he knew she loved him. He is so different from Larry. But fear of another heartbreak kept her from giving him more. The idea of his using her for a little while until something better came along scared her. She once believed relationships lasted forever--that’s all she wanted. Not too long ago, she learned the hard way that they didn’t. “I think we should let it happen, not rush it.”

He cupped her cheek in his palm. “I think that is an incredibly wise decision.” He pulled her close and kissed her soundly.

Kelli rolled and cuddled against his chest. Feeling his strong heartbeat and muscled heat lulled her to relax and linger on the threshold of sleep. Next to her, his body relaxed.

“Good night, Carter.”

“Good night, Kelli,” he mumbled in her ear and hugged her one more time. Seconds before she fell asleep, she thought she heard him say, “I love you.”

In a natural response, she said the first thing to come to her head, a message from her heart. “I love you, too.” She laced her fingers through his.

Do I dare hope that maybe me and Carter will work out? Time will tell.

Chapter Thirteen

Kelli looked at the clock and counted the minutes until she saw Carter again.
Thirteen minutes
. Her heartbeat sped up. She looked forward to the time she’d come to expect him to knock on her door. If there was a time when she had been happier, it was in her distant memory. In the three weeks since she and Carter became lovers, she found herself falling in love with him more and more each day. She did fight it at first. She kept telling herself to take it slow, but her attraction for him won out, along with their common attachment to the team from the sidelines. He loved her. He said so. In her heart, she knew it to be true. His loving words were so endearing she welled up with tears when she thought about it. Believing in love again, Kelli sighed with anxiety. First, before she could find complete happiness, she had to tell him a secret.

The doorbell rang. She took one final calming breath and braced herself for the challenge that awaited her on the other side of the door. The dreams of a future come true.

“Hi!” she greeted with a sigh of happiness. His handsome face smiled in satisfaction of seeing her. His dark chocolate eyes registered appreciation to see her. He came forward, and immediately, his firm, desire-invoking arms wrapped around her and she felt safe within them. She held on one more second longer than usual, enjoying the feel of his body next to hers.

“What is it, Kelli?” He pulled her back. “Is everything all right?”

Her heart fluttered with growing love. She pulled him close again. “Yes, I’m all right. It’s just that I have to tell you something. I think you have a right to know. A secret I’ve been keeping.”

He pulled her back. His eyes showed no signs of fear or disappointment. Only strength. “So, tell me this big secret,” Carter encouraged.

Kelli swallowed a large lump that formed in her throat. “Carter, come on in and we’ll talk.” He was all she looked for in a man. He was gorgeous without question, honest to a fault, a gentleman with her in public, and a hot, confident, giving lover in private. Even with all that, what she loved most about him was he didn’t play games with her mind.

What you see is what you get.

“Carter, you know I wasn’t a virgin when we met.” Kelli lowered her eyes, avoiding any lingering disappointments she might see in his eyes.

“Okay, so you dated other men.”

“No, Carter, I only dated one other man before you. I thought he and I would be married.”

Carter took her hand. “Kelli, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do, Carter. I love you.” She looked at him. “In fact, I love you more than I ever loved him.” She saw the cocky smile part his lips.
Only Carter would smile at a serious moment like this.
It was sort of a male-satisfied grin. “He and I had our first sexual encounter on my prom night. We stayed together believing we would get married in the future.”

“But?”

“Well, about December, Larry, my ex, broke up with me. I was devastated. I kept wondering what had I done that was so wrong? One night I got up the courage to ask him. He told me that he had been sleeping with my best friend, and she was pregnant.”

“Oh, Kelli.” Carter pulled her into a loving embrace. Peace and love surrounded her. “How lucky for me! Besides, he didn’t deserve you.”

Kelli smiled, and then looked up into his eyes. “Carter, you are so sweet.”

“No, only a man in love. And Kelli, I love you, too.” He leaned into her and settled a kiss softly on her lips.

Kelli would believe he put every ounce of love he felt, into that one kiss which bonded her feelings of security for a future. “I think I’m ready for you to meet my parents.”

Carter took out his cell phone and handed it to her. “Call them now.”

She looked down at the proffered phone. Her eyes lifted to his, with a shaky smile, she hesitated for a second longer. “I hope you’re ready.”

Ten minutes later, she hung up the phone with a renewed excitement. “They’re excited to meet you.”

He took her hand in his, kissed it softly. “I am, too.”

* * * *

Kelli woke to the familiar ringtone on her cell phone. She reached over to the nightstand, but the phone wasn’t there. Rising upon her elbows, she looked over the side of the bed.

Nothing.

Frantically, she looked for the ringing phone. “Don’t shut off yet.” She stopped rustling the bed covers and listened for the next ring. She turned her head to the muffled sounds under Carter’s pillow. Lifting it, she found her phone.
How did you get over there?
She questioned a nanosecond before she answered the phone on the last ring. A quick glance at the empty place next to her reminded her that Carter had left early. The past two and a half weeks, Carter had slept at her apartment while Tonya stayed with Dex. Those nights were the best sex she had ever had. And the time needed to know Carter better.

“Hello?” She expected Carter’s voice to greet her but was pleasantly surprised to hear her brother’s voice instead.

“Hello, kiddo, did I wake you?”

“Hey, Joshua! No, you didn’t wake me. How are you?”

Kelli lay back on her pillow and pulled Carter’s over her. The scent of his cologne clung to the pillowcase. The shampoo he used and their orgasms lingered on the material of the sheets. She closed her eyes, longing for his touch.

“Kelli? Kelli?”

Her brother’s voice zapped her back to the phone call. She felt embarrassment burn her cheeks.
Does he know what I’m thinking?

“Kelli? Are you there, honey?”

“What? I’m sorry. I must have dozed off.”

Kelli couldn’t believe her behavior! She had to focus on her brother, not on Carter and her insatiate sexual appetite for him. She hadn’t talked to Joshua in weeks. “Josh, the last time I spoke to you was three weeks ago. The afternoon we met for lunch and I told you about Carter.” Joshua had said he was happy for her and Carter, but being the overprotective older brother he was, Kelli knew he wouldn’t be happy until he met Carter face to face and got to know him better. “God, has it been that long since we last saw each other?”

“Yep,” Joshua answered. “About that.”

There was a lull in the conversation.

“Kelli, we need to talk.”

“Okay, but I have a job interview in an hour. Can we talk after?”

“Yes, that will be fine.”

Kelli suddenly got a bad vibe from Josh’s silence. An awkward foreboding settled in the pit of her stomach. “Josh, what is this about?”

“It’s about Carter. There’s something I think you should know.”

“What…what is it?” The shattering feeling of alarm suddenly crept over her.

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

Josh hung up the phone before she was able to question him further. She felt bile burning in her throat, and dread filled her. Her brother’s words echoed in her mind.

“Josh’s meddling. This isn’t happening,” she whispered.

Kelli jumped out of bed and showered. Josh wasn’t going to spoil her day. Once he arrived this afternoon, she would deal with him once and for all.

* * * *

Kelli’s image popped into Carter’s mind for the millionth time today. He couldn’t stop thinking of her, and the more he tried to concentrate on something else, the quicker the images came. His anxiety to see her later increased. He tried to blame it on the secret he planned to tell her. “Today, everything will be on the right track. I’ll tell her the truth about my money, and we’ll have nothing more to stand in our way.” He didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
This is the time to make a clean start with her before meeting her parents.
Thinking of the future and all its wonderful possibilities, he couldn’t wait to see her tonight and make plans.

He reached for the phone but set it back on the desk charger without dialing. He’d done that several times today. Every time he thought to call her and tell her he loved her, something came up or he decided against it. Whether it was to keep her interview uneventful or anticipation of telling her his feelings in person, he’d changed his mind. “Why didn’t I call to wish her luck this morning? Or leave a note? Because I lost track of time, and it got away from me.”

A strange feeling filled his gut. One he never experienced before, at least not in his recent recollections.
Something’s wrong.
He felt like his whole world was about to end. The more he sat around waiting to leave work, the higher his dread. He looked at his watch—four o’clock. He’d expected her to call and tell him how her interview went.
Something isn’t right
. “I have to get to her.” He switched off his computer. “Why couldn’t she stay home and chill out? Why did she have to interview for a job today?” Looking to the heavens, he implored the only one that could help her. “God, don’t let anything happen to her.”

The moment he left work, Carter jumped into his truck and then raced through town to Kelli and Tonya’s apartment. He felt the nervous vibrations building up in his gut the closer he got, and then the traffic stopped to a standstill—the interstate a virtual parking lot. Carter swallowed down his panic. Slowly, he made his way to the scene of the accident that had blocked the road. The small compact car looked nothing like Kelli’s. “Thank you, God, for not letting her be in the accident.” The panic he felt earlier subsided. However, he still had to see her. Carter whipped in and out of the rush hour traffic in an effort to get to her.

The second he pulled into the apartment complex, he ran through the courtyards. He pulled open the entry door to the dormitory and trotted through the lobby to the elevator.

“Slow down!” the security guard yelled, but he ignored him. He wanted Kelli, and nothing, or no one, would stop him.

In his eagerness to see her, Carter banged on her door. The sound of the disengaged deadbolt caught his attention. This was it.

Kelli opened the door, but instead of a smiling face, his heart sank when he saw her eyes glistening with tears. When she looked at him, her face was hard and impassive. Her body shook with the rage that quickly filled her gaze.

He stepped into the doorway “Kelli, are you all right?” She wouldn’t look at him in such a harsh way if everything were good. “What’s happened?” He tried to wrap her in his arms, but she pushed him away. “What?”

Kelli stepped out of his reach. “You own the Fort Worth Rebels?” She shouted.

“What?” Carter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Who told you I own the team?”
No doubt about it, fate is screwing with me
.
How did she find out?

He looked around the room. For the first time, he noticed they weren’t alone. Behind Kelli stood Tonya and some man he had never seen before. He didn’t know what emotion to act on first, her anger at his mistakes or his jealousy for this man in her apartment.

He reacted to the immediate potential fallout of his secret coming to light. He looked at Kelli. “I can explain everything.”

He turned to Tonya. “As my legal representative…”

“Save it, you fucking coward,” Kelli roared. “I know everything, even that my cousin is your lawyer.”